The Work Progresses

Continuing to blog about the work being done in preparation for East Bay Open Studios, photos will fill in the million things I could never explain in words.  I am working on two paintings right now. One is receiving the early (gray) foundation work. It is 24" x 24". This (on the right >) is what it looks like right now.

My next step will be to smooth the surface with the electric sander. I may decide then to add more FlexAll or some other material before I apply paint. I have no idea where I will go with it. So I see it looking back at me with a challenging stare, as if to say, “Okay, I dare you. Make art out of me.”

The other painting is further along in the process. (Below, on the left) It is 36" x 36". I knew I didn’t want this to be a white and gray painting, but my appreciation of the surface on the bottom half of the piece was holding me back. So worked on the spiral wire and snakeskin section developing horizontally. (Bottom, right) 

I was having  fun with this section. I had added a section of spiral wire from a notebook. I've saved up a bunch of those wires, so I was able to add sections, pull them, and play with them before fixing them to the canvas.

 Even though I was having fun, I knew I was stalled by the fact that I’d fallen in love with the surface south of the wire. So this afternoon I took a large brush and painted a totally different color all over the canvas.

 This won’t be the eventual color. It is what we call “under painting”. I chose a color I'd already mixed for another piece that is now finished. It's a color that takes me closer to ‘earth’ and further from ‘sky’. 

You can see that intuition plays a huge part in the painting process. All that I have written about today will remain in the memory of the final piece. Just as in life, the accumulation of all these steps (the bad choices and the good ones) will be part of the overall character of the final piece.